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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2012)
4 street roots April 1, 2012 W fllfW A AA, Media roundup 2012 B B I P W All the news that causes fits A" New homeless tours available today ocal non-profits hoping to piggyback on a growing number of interested social work students and young people from around the region have created a new tourism program aimed at watching homeless people in Old Town. The new program called “Homeless Watching” will be aimed at high school and college immersion groups, social work and anthropology programs. The program includes eating lunch with the homeless at local soup kitchens, sleeping out on the streets or on a local social service agency’s floor, and doing roundtables about how it must feel to be homeless. “It’s a great way to raise awareness,” said one local executive director. “We’re partnering this year with the birding community and giving students binoculars and notepads and asking them to observe the homeless in new ways. We will also be doing a scavenger hunt and teaching a class on equity and white-guilt called, ‘Homeless people: Should we feel bad?” Homeless residents of Portland have responded by offering tours of Portlandia “as seen on TV.” The tours begin at Stumptown Coffee and offer a wonderful opportunity for visitors to view hipsters in their natural habitat. Participants learn skills such as making sure their food is local, pedigreed, and organic, as well as how to walk slowly and hold up traffic. “For an extra fee, your guide will put a bird on you,” says local guide Soup Can Sam. For more information on the immersion classes or a Portlandia tour contact a social service agency near you, call 211info at 211 or contact the Rose City Resource at www. rosecityresource.org. n annual look at the highs, lows, and midland potential of our regions’ inest newsy source-like outlets: L The Oregonian has decided after several years of high-unemployment rates, thousands of foreclosures and a rising number of people on the streets to start reporting on the subject of housing and homelessness. “After careful consideration,” a recent editorial from the Oregonian noted, “we realized that we do actually care about people who have lost everything. We’re not yet ready to blame the banks and still believe we shouldn’t raise taxes under any circumstances, but we do care.” The Willamette Week did not report about Street Roots screwing things up this year. The editorial team has decided to wait to slam the organization until Street Roots goes weekly, or wins first prize at the Society of Professional Journalists awards, whichever comes first. It’s thought that Editor Mark Zusman will go “ballistic” if SR, a left-wing commie rag, receives any kind of journalism award in front of the WW. A local blogger reported that The Portland Mercury and Street Roots produced the most news in the city last year with the smallest editorial staffs. Publishers, editors, reporters and staff at both publications are thought to have any number of ailments, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive- compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress Blue Oregon, an online propaganda tool for progressives, has officially put its readers to sleep. The online publication has been highly acclaimed by faithful readers who spend every minute of their waking life in front of a computer, but has failed to attract anyone who has a life outside of a small group of backslapping, micro-brewing, N E E D T O G O S E R V IC E inding down his term on city council, Commissioner Randy Leonard has proposed a new sign, his final salvo in the imaging business, to grace the West Hills. It will say: “West Hills.” The sign is the latest brainchild of Leonard, who helped create the expansive, neon “Portland, Oregon” sign at the west end of the Burnside Bridge. That sign replaced the “Made in Oregon” sign, and retains j sSJESSSI '-Afri ' < Meet Your Local Branch Manager: ^Communities aren’t ju s t streets and build ings. Communities are thriving places where cultures, commerce and souls grow stronger together.” -M a ry EQUAL HOUSiNS LENDER Due to subscription requirements The Portland B usiness Journal remains the most half-read online newspaper in the city. BY LOO PORTLAND Vendors are regular contributors to Street Roots content, as columnist, poets and artists. Look for your favorite vendor's writings in each edition o f the paper. M em ber A recent newspaper survey revealed that Portland Monthly has the most read cover page in the city, while also being the least read publication. One media insider says, “Thousands of people in checkout stands across the city enjoy reading the cover of the Portland Monthly, but couldn’t care less about what’s inside.” insider Democrats. Popular blogger Byron Beck has been seen around town this week snapping photos of anything with two legs and a drink in its hand. Bike Portland continues to report on white people on bikes, while Portland Afoot will be presenting a special series this month on foot fetishes on the bus. Jack Bog’s Blog is still mad at the city, for what we’re not exactly sure of. Some in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community mourned, while others rejoiced the fact that Just Out magazine closed shop this year. Gay men blamed lesbian women for the closure, while lesbian women blamed gay men for everything else. The transgender community blamed both groups for leaving them out of the decision. A new publication titled PQ Monthly launched last month with many of Just Out’s former employees. The launch party was reported to be very gay. The Portland Tribune has reported that the good guys are really good, while the bad guys are really bad. Fox 12 News reported every single news tip that came across its desk, offering a range of important stories on car crashes, rain storms and how dog owners are manipulating the city. Not to be outdone, the morning news team at KOIN 6 ran a special series this week on dog owners who have car crashes in the rain. Leonard’s legacy unknown, looking fo r a sign W Mary Edmeades Social Impact Banking 503.445.2155 medmeades@albinabank.com disorder, and any number of addictions due to the grueling publication schedule. Both editors (Theriault, Zuhl) are thought to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Asked by a local blogger why the newspapers sometimes have similar coverage, the spokespersons (Humphrey, Bayer) at both publications reacted similarly, barking weird incoherent opinions about money, duty and deadlines. One of the publishers was dressed in leather chaps with a rainbow t-shirt and scarf; the other was wearing soccer socks with long Adidas sports shorts, and, oddly enough, a rainbow scarf. Both mumbled profanities not meant for print and appeared to be visibly disturbed. At Albina Community Bank the most ordinary financial transaction can have an extraordinary impact on our local community. You’re going to bank somewhere, why not let your banking make a difference in the places where you live and work? the “White Stag” from a previous sign. Leonard also shepherded through the neon rose now glowing on top of what looks like a 1970s abandoned Crab Shack in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. And Leonard himself has been the inspiration for a few impromptu signs downtown. Leonard presented his proposal, which includes an artist’s rendering of a blue neon sign with a white outline glowing over Downtown Portland, to city council this past week. “What the hell, Randy?” said Mayor Sam Adams, confused. “We don’t have money for this.” With that, Leonard left the room and hasn’t been seen since. Leonard was seen days later at a Portland Loo in the Pearl trying to convince residents that it was a nice public restroom, regardless what the neighborhood assocation had to say. City Hall will be holding hearings on the “West Hills” sign tomorrow at 2p.m. in the Rose Room.
